Research Shows Sustained Vision Improvement Among People With Most Common Cause of Blindness Who Use Dietary Supplement

A major, 2-year European Research Council-funded program involving over 100 people diagnosed with early stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has shown an improvement in vision when taking a dietary supplement of carotenoids. Those living with AMD would usually have been expected to experience a continued deterioration in their vision over the 2 years of the clinical trial. Instead, those receiving carotenoids showed a significant improvement across 24 out of 32 measures of vision.

Improvements in vision were particularly marked among those receiving all three carotenoids, lutein, meso-zeaxanthin, zeaxanthin and co-antioxidants (MacuHealthPLUS+) compared to those receiving only zeaxanthin, lutein and co-antioxidants (AREDS2). Of note, 34.8 % of trial participants on the MacuHealth plus formulation had what is deemed to be a clinically meaningful improvement in their vision after 24 months compared to 19.6% of patients on the AREDS2-like formulation. This result demonstrates the superiority of the formulation containing the central carotenoid meso-zeaxanthin. It is consistent with previous works highlighting the importance of meso-zeaxanthin to rebuild central dips in macular pigment in patients at risk of AMD and to improve visual performance.